COLUMNIST: JAY BLADES

Inspired by our feature on endangered cra s (p130) Jay talks about his personal mission to rescue the nation’s vanishing skills

In the second instalment of his new column, Jay talks about the importance of keeping heritage skills alive and how he is helping the cause

For me, as a craftsperson, I feel like it’s one of the things I’m here to do – to promote our endangered cra!s and ensure that they don’t become extinct. I first became aware of it as an issue back when I was working in High Wycombe, because I’d taken on a job to recane this set of chairs. Only, I didn’t know how to do it!

Historically, the area is famous for chair making, including caning, so I didn’t think it would be that di#cult to "nd someone with the expertise to teach me. But it was really, really hard. In the end, I found a 92-year-old chap over in Beacons"eld who showed me, and some of the disadvantaged young people I was mentoring at the time, how to recane these chairs. He’d teach us in the shed at his retirement home! He was also going to teach me seat rushing, but he passed away before he could. It dawned on me then how at risk these skills were, and I started to realise that there must be similar cra!s in an equally dangerous position.

I think half of the problem is that young people don’t see cra!s like these as career options. To make cra! appealing to the next generation is very important. Everybody now describes themselves as an ‘artisan’ and that can seem elitist. ‘Cra!sperson’ sounds much more achievable. So I think it should be more like it was in the old days, where someone starts as an apprentice – and then you come up through the ranks until, one day, you’re a master cra!sperson. You become someone who is great at what you do.

I want to make sure that young people see this as a viable route. I’m trying to make all of our cra!s – upholstery, painting, gilding and especially the endangered ones – vocations. So, when I’m working with young people, I don’t tell them I’m going to teach them how to restore furniture – I show them how to make money from nothing. And when you give them an old chair with holes in it and you say: ‘We can make hundreds from this’, they can’t believe it! So I explain that, yes, your time is valuable. Especially if we’re talking about a rare skill. That’s the way to get young people interested.

It’s like endangered cra!s are a relay race – you need to hand the baton on to someone, otherwise it’s game over. And that’s quite sad when you think about it. Every cra! should continue.

‘I think half of the problem is that young people don’t see cra s like these as career options… I’m trying to make all of our cra s, especially the endangered ones, vocations.’